AndyMan

Any of the "non drowsy" anti-histamines should be fine. If you live in a place where you need a perscription, you could ask your doctor... Personally, I use Claratin. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

LTDivers Sony .6 is wider then my Kenko .5 Your milleage may vary. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

got the CD handy? Throw it in, drop to the command prompt, and run 'sfc.exe' - aka system file checker. It should find any corrupt problems. If you can't do that, try a scan disk. My Computer, right click on your 'C:' drive, click tools, then 'Check Now'. It probably won't check, but offer to check on the next reboot. Say yes, then reboot. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The one I jump at a 1.5 wingloading IS sweet! Yes. The Saber 1 and 2 are both significantly more forgiving to strong inputs at all wingloadings. Everything else being equal, a given toggle stroke will give a shallower dive, and a dive at the same angle will have a slower speed. They are less likely to buckle in turbulence in light wingloadings then Stiletos. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I wouldn't go that far. Turning your head during opening is a good perscription for a sore neck at the end of the day. Most camera fliers, who have a much bigger risk of riser strikes and entaglements, simply look straight ahead at the horizon throughout the opening. It helps reduce sore necks, plus it helps keep you straight in the harness throughout opening. If you're really concerned about a lost external protrack, use a few rubber bands to hold the unit as well as the bracked. If the bracket breaks, the rubber bands will still hold. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I think she'd dig a trench... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Or better yet, Sinead O'Connor. She turned out to be right about the Catholic Church, too. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I found there's some text only binaries that work better on multi-proc systems, moreover - they don't show up in the task bar, and can be run as a service. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

What was the chimney strike....? It would be more useful if we could see how many fatalities each graph represented. The ratios are interesting but without the context of the aggregate numbers its hard to interpret. Very cool, though. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

www.skydivingfatalities.info 3 people died in 2001 with entaglements... This brings up a discussion about snag hazzards, ring sites, and cuttaway systems. It reminds us that we're all willing to throw away a few thousand bucks in hardware when needed. It suggests that we should have renters or home owners insurance for specifically when we do that. Other discussions revolve around watching the dirt dive, watching the climbout - looking for prematurely deploying canopies. I really mean discussions, too. These aren't points that should be listed off in bullett form. Each of these topics is a discussion. On takeoff, we need to consider how each of our helmets can become projectiles during the simplest accident. Everyone with a helmet, but especially camera flyers need to be securing their helmets. Yes, flying cameras have killed people. Look up the Perris Otter crash a few years back. During the skydive, being careful of the burble. Also, constantly watching for prematures, and if freeflying - corks. There's a good discussion to be had about breakoffs - who's job is to do what. Everybody should know their job, because it was discussed during the dirt dive. Everybody should be reminded of the camera guy taking the center, and everybody should know if he'll be pulling right at break-off, or if DZ policy requires him to pull at a lower (normal) altitude. Tracking, knowing who's good at it, and who isn't is critical. If this lecture is being directed at the DZ at large, as opposed to people already flying camera, then it might be wise to have a simple discussion about what kinds of experiences jumpers should have before strapping on a camera. It should remind newer jumpers that they aren't ready for it, and it should remind camera flyers to be vigilant about who they help get into it. A good interesting read is Quades site here: http://www.futurecam.com/skydive.html __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

OK. However, Stilettos are PARTICULARLY unstable even in light turbulence when underloaded. There are canopies that are better then others in turbulence, and there are canopies that are worse then others in turbulence. A lightly loaded Stiletto is definately in the latter group. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This is your first rig? Forget the "long time". The primary objective of your first rig is to keep you alive NOW. Above all else, buy something appropriate for the experience you have now. This means a main and a reserve that are both around 170 square feet. Worry about downsizing later. You'll find you'll be able to swap canopies very cheaply and easily when the time comes. I traded in my 190 triathlon for a 150 Stiletto when I had a few hundred jumps, for example. The upgrade cost me about 300 bucks. I kept all my other gear the same. Downsize when you're ready for it. Not before. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Just out of curiosity, do you feel the same way about seatbelts? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

clucks like a chicken... walks like a chicken..... ...? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My Veolocity helmet has only one internal pocket, and I have two audibles. I started by drilling holes in the helmet, 4 holes corresponding to the wholes on the mounting bracket. I also drilled a hole directly behind the speaker on the audible to help the sound make it through. Lastly, I took a roll of duct tape, rolled up a good length of tape, and used the tape to act as a line deflector underneath the bracket. Secondly, I used the tape to seal around the bracket to reduce wind noise from interfering with the sound from the speaker. I have lost an audible from a riser strike, since then L&B has started shipping rubber bands that will hold the audible if the bracket breaks. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'll go one step farther. When discussing the economics of developing new inovative sources of energy, we're talking about what it actually costs to pull the stuff out of the ground. Currently, our best way to measure this cost is in Dollars / Barrel - the way that oil and gas is measured on the international market. The per barrel price of oil is calculated long before any government gets to apply taxes. Taxes affect the price people pay at the pumps, but they do not affect the price paid for a barrel of crude. It's the price of a barrel of crude that dictates how much investment goes into finding new ways of harvesting energy. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I like this because for a few reasons, partly is that I wonder what the point of having a wildlife refuge is, if you're going to be drilling for oil. I don't consider myself a big environmentalist.... but if you're not going to protect a refuge, what's the point of having it? Secondly, I'd like to see gas more expensive. Yes, you heard me. Gas needst to be more expensive. People need to reconsider driving SUV's. Lastly, for a completely different reason, I'd like to see gas prices raised to the point where it makes economical sense to harvest Albertas Oil Sands. There literally is billions of barrels of oil soaked sand lieing on the surface. It's much that just needs to be picked up. Unforutnately, extracting the oil from the sand is expensive... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

How tightly does the rear deflector follow the contour of the helmet? Is the reflector attached to the helmet? My concern is that your attempt to make a deflector might actually be a huge snag factor itself. Is it possible for a line to get under the deflector? (shown in pic #2) _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

However, the reality of things is that you should ask the person at your DZ who'll be submitting the paperwork. There's two signatures involved 1) the signature in your logbook. 2) the signature on the paperwork submitted for the licence. Signature 1 is done at jump time Signature 2 is done at application time. Most DZ's have signature 2 done by an appropriately rated official, but really don't care who does signature 1. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I don't think anyone has ever been killed by Cypres firing when it wasn't supposed to. I can think of a few examples where someone died because the Cypres did not fire. One was a low exit where the unit never armed, the other was Jonny Velocity at SDC - I never heard the results of the official investigation, but I understand the unit was found turned off on initial inspection. It seems to me that those screaming about how risky it is to use a Cypres sound an awful lot like those who argue it's safer to not wear a seatbelt, because you might be thrown clear in an accident. Yes, I supose it's possible, but like wearing seatbelts, I'll take my chances with the stellar reputation of the unit. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I picked up Terminal Velocity in the bargain bin at Blockbuster last week... cost me $5. You can buy Drop Zone ($17) and Cuttaway ($13) on amazon.com. note "Drop Zone" is two words. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

According to the discussion on slashdot, selective availailability will probably be turned on globaly, not regionaly. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/19/0340247&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=103 _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Rob - the was a torn Strong reserve at the Batavia boogie - the guys from Frontier in upstate NY. A terminal reserve deployment resulted in enough torn cells and broken lines that only 4 cells were properly inflated. The student broke her arm, the TM broke his back. The TM was Scott Anderson, who used to jump at STI, and was a member of the flying lizzards. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I intentionally went low last Sunday. I was filming an RW jump, and some of the jumpers were recent AFF grads. I knew a few of them weren't very good at tracking. And... one of them tracked directly underneath me, and deployed - directly underneath me. I then tracked over her deploying canopy, got clear air and pulled myself. My pro-track read 1,200 feet. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Well, you've just told Glen Bangs - S&TA, Instructor Evaluator, and USPA board member he should not be in the sport. I think you would be surprised at how often cypreses go off for very experienced, and very knowledgable skydivers. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.